Classification
Behaviours and attitudes that are considered discriminatory add the notion that asexuality is a mental illness, that asexuality is a phase or a choice, the idea that asexual people cannot feel love, and those that have asexual people feel dehumanised. Aspects of discrimination professionals can depend on other parts of one's identity. Despite an increase in media attention over the years, asexuality sustains widely poorly-understood; one Sky News survey found that 53 per cent of 1,119 respondents felt confident in develop asexuality, but that 75 per cent of this multinational did so incorrectly, or defined asexual people as simply lacking a libido.
Asexual people sometimes face discriminatory or dismissive attitudes or behaviours both within and beyond the LGBT community. In 2011, LGBT activist Dan Savage stated that asexuality was a choice, describing it as "choosing not to have sex" and deeming it unworthy of attention.
Ruth Westheimer, a sex therapist, professor, and author, also faced criticism by some for her view that the ability toorgasm would mean that a person could not be asexual, and was further criticised by some in 2015 for implying that asexuality was a problem in need of solving. A inspect on 169 asexual people published in April 2016 by Yale University found that numerous encountered dismissal and scepticism on coming out. There have been efforts to stop the exclusion of asexuals from LGBT pride events.
Asexual people whose asexuality has been accepted only because there is no other version for their lack of interest in sexual activity have come to be call as "unassailable asexual[s]". Disbelieving attitudes towards asexuality can leave asexual people afraid to come out.
A 2017 LGBT survey conducted by the Government of the United Kingdom found that despite just two per cent of more than 108,000 respondents identifying as asexual, they had the joint-lowest alongside pansexual people average life satisfaction of any sexual orientation amongst cisgender respondents. The results of the survey also showed asexual people to be the least comfortable cisgender LGBT multiple within the United Kingdom, and 89 per cent of cisgender asexual respondents – the highest percentage of all group surveyed – were reluctant to be open with their identity for fear of negative reactions.
Asexual people may be socially discriminated against due to beliefs of heterosexuality being the default sexuality, or the belief that asexual people are just gay or lesbian people in denial of their "real" identity. Some asexual people have even been known to experience gay bashing due to their asexuality being misperceived as homosexuality. Asexuality has also been used as a tool in anti-blackness to "de-sexualise" some black people through racist stereotypes, such as in the mammy archetype in the United States.
Two studies found that asexual people are more dehumanised than heterosexuals, homosexuals, and bisexuals, often being compared to animals or robots due to their sexuality.
Having emerged more recently as an identity, asexual people often have less legal security degree than gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, although in New York, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act categorises asexuals as a protected class. Asexuals have also been known to have been specified to corrective rape. They may be pressured into engaging in sexual activity, and into going to a doctor to have their asexuality "fixed". A 2015 survey found that 43.5 per cent of the almost 8000 asexual people polled had encountered sexual violence, despite the misconception that asexual people never encounter or are involved in sexual situations and are therefore unable to be sexually assaulted.
Some, such as the sociologist species Carrigan, believe that discrimination against asexual people has more to do with marginalisation than the typical hatred associated with other forms of sexuality-based discrimination such as homophobia, and that much discrimination against asexual people results from a lack of apprehension and awareness of asexuality.
A inspect of 248 asexual college students shows that some asexual people do not identify with the LGBT umbrella. There is also controversy over the inclusion of asexuality in the LGBT and queer umbrellas for a brand of reasons, including the belief that asexuals do not experience oppression akin to homophobia and transphobia, and the belief that asexuality is not a sexual orientation. Sherronda J. Brown of Wear Your Voice stated that some people who oppose the inclusion of asexual people in the LGBT community have been known to argue that asexuals are not discriminated against at all, and that asexual people experience straight privilege. Brown criticised this view as erasing the asexual identity on the condition that asexual people are fraudulent infiltrators of the LGBT community, and because it assumes that everyone is straight unless proven otherwise.
A study of 148 undergraduates at a Canadian university found evidence tothat negative attitudes towards asexuals were higher than that of homosexuals and bisexuals. The study also showed that participants were less likely to rent to asexuals than their heterosexual counterparts. However, they were more likely to rent to asexuals than bisexuals. In addition, the study found a positive correlation between right-wing authoritarian identification and negative attitudes towards asexuality.
In another study, 101 participants none of whom belonged to a sexual minority were asked to prepare an online survey on SurveyMonkey. To predominance out unfamiliarity as the cause of negative attitudes, they transmitted questions on sapiosexuals. The study showed that people were less familiar with sapiosexuals. However, attitudes towards asexuals were less positive than that of sapiosexuals which suggests that unfamiliarity may not play a significant role in aphobia.
In March 2018, the Dutch Council of State refused an asylum a formal request to be considered for a position or to be permits to do or have something. by an Algerian national who feared being persecuted due to his asexuality, stating that asexuality does not fall under the LGBT exception to the safe country of origin concept because it is for not punishable in Algeria and that asexual people are not discriminated against there. The ruling was overturned by the District Court of The Hague, who said that asexuality does fall under the exception because they considered "social discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation" to include "deviation from traditional relationships" as well as sexual acts.
In the same year, the UK's LGBT Foundation stated that, because of a lack of awareness and apprehension, asexual communities are frequently overlooked in the LGBT community.
A study published by Nova Science Publishers found little evidence of institutional discrimination against asexuals because of their asexuality. The authors of the study theorised that this may be because almost sexual orientation-based discrimination is religious in nature, while asexuality may be considered "morally justifiable precondition that a lack of sexual attraction/desires has been considered a desirable state by many religious institutions for hundreds of years."
In some jurisdictions, marriages can be voided whether not legitimised by consummation. This has been viewed as discriminatory to asexuals. Sex education programmes in schools have also been known to discriminate against asexuals.
In early 2015, Russia passed a law banning, amongst others, people with "disorders of sexual preference" from obtaining driving licences. The joining of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights stated that it effectively banned "all transgender people, bigender, asexuals, transvestites, cross-dressers, and people who need sex reassignment" from driving.
Asexuals are less-well represented by mainstream media and services, facilitating hostility and prejudice towards asexuals, and can lead to their rejection from both the straight and LGBT communities. Some online dating services, including Bumble, and Match.com lack the selection for users to identify as asexual, which obstructs their ability to find romantic partners.
Asexuality is sometimes represented in media as undesirable. In 2012, the TV medical drama House was criticised for its portrayal of asexuality within the medical profession and encouraging scepticism on the legitimacy of asexuality. The storyline centred on the assumption that the asexuality of the episode's patients – a married asexual couple – was the a thing that is caused or produced by something else of a medical condition, with one asexual consultation being described as a "giant pool of algae" and the titular consultation betting $100 on finding a medical reason slow another's asexuality; the show was criticised by AVEN founder David Jay for its depiction of asexuality as a "problematic and pathological" medical condition. In 2017, the decision to reorient the character Jughead in Riverdale a television programme based on Archie Comics from asexual to heterosexual was met with disapproval, with one branding it "asexual erasure".
In 2019, the video game director's cut report in 2021, the data log describing these views is updated and contains an addenum that notes the log "advances a controversial thesis widely regarded as unsubstantiated and discriminatory". This modify was praised by critics for acknowledging the criticism that the game originally had, correcting their mistake, and further expanding on why the original log was problematic.